After years in decline, the Old Town is now the focus of huge regeneration efforts, which are beginning to pay off with glimmers of gastronomic promise in and around the historic Market Place.

Add to that a booming beer scene and a thriving suburban food and drink offer and it’s safe to say Stockport’s star is definitely on the rise. Here are five reasons why.

1. Foodie Friday

Foodie Friday at Stockport Market

A worthy winner of the MFDF Awards’ best pop-up prize, this street feast that takes over Stockport Market Place the last Friday of every month has galvanised efforts to regenerate the Old Town area and paved the way for several new openings in the area.

While plans to turn the market itself into an Altrincham-style food hall have been put on the back burner for now , the crowds that flock here every month show there’s certainly an appetite for a more permanent set-up of this kind somewhere in Stockport.

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3. The beer

Heaton Hops

Stockport gives good pub, with a drinking scene founded on a rich brewing heritage.

Family-run brewery Robinson’s has been making beer here since 1836 and operates dozens of pubs in and around the town, where they co-exist happily with excellent freehouses such as The Magnet, The Hope and The Crown Inn.

Building on that tradition are the seven new microbreweries that have sprung up (at the last count) - Quantum, Fool Hardy, Cryptic, Stockport Brewing Company, Watt’s Brewing, Thirst Class and Remedy - and a new wave of craft beer bars and micropubs such as MFDF award-winner Heaton Hops in Heaton Chapel, Bottle in Heaton Moor, The Mounting Stone in Bramhall, The Chiverton Tap in Cheadle and the newly-opened Petersgate Tap in the town centre.

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4. The suburbs

Indian Tiffin Room in Cheadle

Cheadle’s Indian Tiffin Room is one of Stockport’s biggest success stories. Starting as a tiny cafe in Chapel Street, it opened a huge new city centre site in Manchester’s First Street development earlier this year.

Even so, tables are still booked up weeks in advance at the original restaurant, proving to the rest of the town - as Where The Light Gets In chef Samuel Buckley hopes - if you build it they will come.

Over in Heaton Moor, Brassica has hung on to its Michelin Bib Gourmand award for a second year - one of only three restaurants in Greater Manchester to have one - and deservedly so.

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5. Redrock

An artist's impression of Redrock Stockport

Okay, so no serious foodie is going to rejoice at an invasion of big name chains, but interest from the likes of Zizzi, Pizza Express and Gourmet Burger Kitchen does signal a renewed confidence in the town, which it's hoped will rub off on more interesting, independent operators.

The three restaurants have all committed to open alongside The Light cinema in the town’s new £45m leisure development when it is completed next year in another boost for regeneration efforts in the town.

Don't be a food snob - good indies need major developments to bring more footfall and put themselves in the shop window too.